Assurant, Inc. $AIZ Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 77.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,706 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,291 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Assurant were worth $589,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its position in Assurant by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 5,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,250,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Assurant during the first quarter valued at approximately $346,000. Praxis Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Assurant during the first quarter valued at approximately $294,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Assurant by 18.7% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,665 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,234,000 after buying an additional 894 shares during the period. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Assurant during the first quarter worth approximately $3,534,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assurant

In other news, EVP Keith Meier sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.31, for a total transaction of $6,357,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 18,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,717,959.12. This represents a 57.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Robert Lonergan sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.71, for a total value of $1,838,970.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 27,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,191,423.54. This trade represents a 20.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 36,000 shares of company stock valued at $9,211,620 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AIZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their target price on Assurant from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. UBS Group increased their price target on Assurant from $270.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Assurant from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Assurant from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Assurant from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $291.43.

Assurant Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of AIZ stock opened at $274.95 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $260.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $239.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.06 and a beta of 0.55. Assurant, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $183.39 and a fifty-two week high of $284.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $5.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.29 by $0.66. Assurant had a net margin of 7.60% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The firm had revenue of $3.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.79 earnings per share. Assurant’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Assurant, Inc. will post 21.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.01%.

About Assurant

Assurant, Inc is a global provider of risk management products and services, specializing in the housing and lifestyle markets. The company offers insurance and related products designed to help consumers protect their homes, personal belongings, and electronic devices. Its core offerings include renters insurance, manufactured housing finance, flood insurance, mobile device protection plans, and extended service contracts for appliances and electronics.

Within its Global Housing segment, Assurant partners with mortgage lenders, financial institutions and government agencies to deliver specialty insurance and risk mitigation services.